Insights
Income and borrowing
What Do Lenders Look For in Your Bank Statements?
What lenders look for in bank statements: pay, rent, savings, undisclosed debts, gambling and overdrawn days. What they check and how many months.
Can You Get a Home Loan on a Bridging Visa?
Bridging visa home loans: some lenders lend on the visa you held and the one you applied for. FIRB, the 9% NSW surcharge and whether to…
Home Loans for Uber and Rideshare Drivers
Uber driver home loans: rideshare drivers are self-employed, so lenders use taxable income from tax returns, not fares. How driving income is counted.
Can You Get a Home Loan on a PhD Stipend?
PhD stipend home loans: some lenders count a stipend with enough time left to run, often grossed up because it is tax free. How it is…
Can You Get a Home Loan on Centrelink Payments?
A home loan on the Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment or other Centrelink income: which payments lenders count and how to show them.
Can You Get a Home Loan While on Workers Compensation?
A home loan while on workers comp is hard because lenders see weekly payments as temporary. When a return to work changes that, plus lump sums.
Home Loans on Part-Time Income: How Lenders Count It
Part-time home loans: permanent part-time pay is usually counted in full at the hours you work. Recent hour changes, two jobs and what to show the…
Can Boarder or Flatmate Income Help You Get a Home Loan?
Boarder income for a home loan: some lenders count part of the rent from a boarder, flatmate or adult child paying board. The evidence they want.
How School Fees and Childcare Affect Your Borrowing Power
Private school fees and childcare can cut borrowing power because many lenders add them on top of the living cost benchmark. How much, with an example.
The Serviceability Buffer: Why Lenders Test You at a Higher Rate
Banks test your repayments at your rate plus 3 percentage points. Why APRA requires it, what it does to borrowing power and where exceptions apply.
The Home Equity Access Scheme Explained
A government loan for people of Age Pension age, secured on your home. How payments and lump sums work, the 3.95% rate and how it compares.
Can You Get a Home Loan With a Tax Debt?
An ATO debt on a payment plan does not rule you out, but it cuts borrowing power and can reach your credit file. What lenders check…
Does Buy Now Pay Later Affect Your Home Loan?
Since June 2025 buy now pay later is regulated credit. How it shows on your credit report and statements, how lenders count it and what to…
HECS-HELP Repayment Thresholds 2026-27, Explained
No repayment up to $69,528 in 2026-27, then 15c per dollar above it. The full ATO table, worked examples, indexation of 2.8% and what counts as…
Getting a Home Loan After Bankruptcy in Australia
How long bankruptcy stays on your credit report, when lenders will consider you after discharge and the steps that rebuild a home loan application.
What Is HEM? How Lenders Work Out Your Living Expenses
HEM is the living cost benchmark lenders test your declared expenses against. What it measures, why the higher figure wins and how it affects borrowing.
Does Salary Packaging Count for a Home Loan?
Salary packaging lowers your taxable pay. How lenders count packaged income, the FBT caps for hospital and charity staff and the effect on borrowing.
Home Loans for Retirees and Pensioners: What Lenders Need to See
Can you get a home loan in retirement? How lenders assess pension, super and investment income, the exit strategy question and loan terms.
How Much Can I Borrow as a First Home Buyer?
What actually drives borrowing power, why online calculators disagree with lenders, and the levers that genuinely lift your number.
Home Loans While on Probation: What Sydney Buyers Should Know
Probation is a policy question, not a verdict. Which lender attitudes exist, what strengthens your file, and when waiting actually pays.
Casual Employment Home Loans: Yes, It Can Be Done
Casual income is assessable income. How lenders average it, why your loading counts, and what makes a casual application strong.
How Much Income Do I Need to Buy an $800,000 Property?
The honest arithmetic at NSW's most consequential price: the deposit, the buffered repayment, and the income range with every caveat visible.